An attempt has been made to steal the remains of Sigmund Freud – or more plausibly, the ancient Greek urn in which the ashes of the father of psychoanalysis, and those of his wife, Martha Bernays, were interred at a crematorium in north London.
Staff at the crematorium in Golders Green discovered broken pieces of the urn, which dates from around 300BC and came from Freud's collection of antiquities, lying on the floor on New Year's Day, after thieves apparently broke in overnight and smashed it in the attempt to steal it.
The urn had been on public display since Freud was cremated at Golders Green in 1939, after his death aged 83. When his widow died in 1951, aged 90, her ashes were added.
The urn – like the famous couch in his consulting room – was a gift from one of his many aristocratic patients. Knowing of Freud's interest in the art of ancient Greece, it was a gift from Princess Marie Bonaparte, great grandniece of Napoleon, who herself became a psychoanalyst, and who helped the Freud family escape from Vienna in 1938 as the Nazi grip tightened.
Urn containing Sigmund Freud's ashes smashed during theft attempt | Books | theguardian.com
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